Stir Of Echoes (1999/Blu-ray/Lionsgate)
Picture:
B- Sound: B Extras: C Film: C
David
Koepp is a wildly successful writer of commercial franchise feature films who
has occasionally directed his scripts.
He is a writer who can go broader (read more general and commercial)
than most writers and still have a script that can hold together. This has led to some interesting successes
and mixed results. His script for the
1994 film of The Shadow was too
self-contained, but had its moments, though the film was a disappointment. That was an adaptation of pulp material mixed
with more Indiana Jones than should have been.
His self-directed script for Stir
Of Echoes (1999) offered the opposite situation.
In this
case, he was adapting the work of the great Richard Matheson, whose book I Am
Legend (now a third “official” feature film) is an all-time
Sci-Fi/Horror classic. Matheson also was
one of the top writers on Rod Serling’s original Twilight Zone and wrote the final teleplays for the original Night Stalker telefilms (reviewed
elsewhere on this site). To say he is a
great thinker and influential in his work is understatement. That left Koepp doing this lower budget (for
him and versus the giant productions he was scripting) production and having to
choose if he should get more specific or stay broad. He tries to have it both ways and it does not
work.
Kevin
Bacon plays the pessimistic, simple, hardworking, family man Tom and his belief
in hard work includes hard reality. He
thinks anything spiritual or supernatural is uninteresting and
nonexistent. One day, his sister (Ileana
Douglas) starts pressing his buttons about this at a neighbor’s party and
trusting her, he allows her to even hypnotize him. What was a gag turns into something more when
he starts seeing visions of murder and worse.
He tries
to rid himself of this and even starts to take on investigating things
himself. What could have made a good
episode of the one-long fourth season of the original Twilight Zone (1 – 3 & 5 were half-hour shows) just cannot fill
up 94 non-stop minutes effectively enough.
Some parts are laughable, other forgettable and others just not
effective in building any constant sense of suspense. The result is a water-down work that wears
its welcome early, though it had potential.
The bottom line is that Koepp tries to put his stamp on Matheson’s work
and that becomes a losing battle no supernatural force could overcome.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 (miscredited as 2.35 X 1 on the package) digital High Definition image
is not bad as lensed by cinematographer Fred Murphy, A.S.C., also shot Paul
Schrader’s underrated Auto Focus,
Larry Cohen’s Q – The Winged Serpent
and the Larry Cohen-penned Best Seller
his work here is not bad. Unfortunately,
none of the shots are too memorable, either but are typical enough of the genre
and not overly plastered with digital like it would have been seven years
later, so we should give credit where credit is due. However, there are image depth and detail
limits that are here in this Blu-ray version that should not be, though it
still looks somewhat better than the previous DVD.
The sound
is here in standard Dolby Digital 5.1 EX and superior DTS HD ES. Originally a theatrical Dolby Digital and
SDDS (Sony Dynamic Digital Sound) release, the sound holds up well enough,
often reserved for more intense moments, but the sound recording itself is not
bad. James Newton Howard’s score is
serviceable at best and not his best work.
The mix overall is not a classic, but is decent for its time. It has dated more so than similar works of
its time in this respect.
Extras
include deleted scenes that do not make much of a difference, Sight Of Spirits featurette on the
paranormal and audio commentary by Koepp.
Whether this affected the picture quality is hard to say, but this is a
solid enough performer and the best way to see this film if you are still
interested. Even less interesting is the
lame sequel. Subtitled The Homecoming, it proves you cannot go
back home, as the link to this review demonstrates:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6203/Stir+Of+Echoes+2+–+The+Homecom
- Nicholas Sheffo
